I was a celebrity in China. That’s how I felt, especially in West Lake, about an hour outside of Shanghai, when people clamored around us, wanting to take photographs with us. They saw us as novelties, as lucky charms, as photo ops to show to their friends.
At West Lake, China, where the paparazzi were going gaga
It was a great lesson for me in humility. We were just us. That in itself was enough.
Just as an experiment, I stood, not moving, on the bridge. In China, the brides are always curved or turn in some way because ghosts and spirits only cross water in straight lines.
Wherever you are today, may you feel like just being you is enough. You are exactly where you are supposed to be. You have everything you need for today. You are being taken care of on your journey through life, whether you believe that statement or not.
Walking under banners and not knowing what they mean…We don’t always understand the burdens we have to carry but we have to keep walking.
Sometimes we feel like we’re stuck in a very sad, bad chapter of our lives. So all we can do is pray to understand the spiritual lessons that accompany the difficulties.
DIANA BLETTER 
I appreciate the way you find meaning in every action or even in every inaction.
Thank you, Julia! I think we can learn a spiritual lesson from just about anything that happens in life.
Diana, thanks for the encouragement. Prayer for me is huge. I think you are special, so I hope that you let the gracious Chinese fawn all over you. 🙂 Sounds like a wonderful trip!
Hi Tracy, I know you are prayer-full, powerful!
I love the lesson…and the pictures!
I just returned from a writing retreat (no TV, phones except for emergencies, no traffic but grazing deer around us in the mountains) and an art room equipped and open to the writers who wanted to draw or paint instead of write). I stayed in a former convent–plain, spotlessly clean, calm and comfortable. The young housekeeper had left a little vase of flowers on the bedside table with this message: “You are where you are supposed to be, and who you are–exactly as you are–is what the world needs. We thank you for being with us this weekend.”
It was a relaxing and enriching retreat, very affirming.
Hi Marylin, The writing retreat sounds fabulous. I hope you wrote and wrote. I love the idea of being in a former convent. And thanks for passing on that message of being where you’re supposed to be!